Citation Machine: A web tool, mostly intended for High School and above, but can certainly be used with younger students with a little bit of creativity. Incorporating the concepts of copyright and intellectual property into what we are teaching can and probably should happen as early as Kindergarten. This tool allows a user to choose the citation format they need along with the type of resource they are citing and then generate bibliographic and in-text citations. What a powerful tool for my own use as well as for students struggling with this sort of task.

Math Resources: This is actually a listing of some online math resources that I emailed out quite some time ago (Pre-Blog), but I wanted to post it to the blog for people who may not have received that previous email and so that it is archived for future reference.

• lluminations: http://illuminations.nctm.org/
• Webmath: http://www.webmath.com/
• MathTools: http://www.mathforum.org/mathtools/
• AAA Math: http://www.aaamath.com/
• Arcytech: http://arcytech.org/java/
• Cyberchase: http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/parentsteachers/lessons.html
• Figure This!: http://www.figurethis.org/index.html
• Graph Paper Printer: http://webperso.easynet.fr/~philimar/graphpapeng.htm
• National Library of Virtual Manipulatives for Interactive Mathematics: http://matti.usu.edu/nlvm/nav/index.html
• PlaneMath: http://www.planemath.com/
• Project Interactivate: http://www.shodor.org/master/interactivate/
• Talking Calculator: http://www.premier-programming.com/calc/talkingcalc.htm
• ThinkQuest Online Math Applications: http://www.thinkquest.org/library/cat_show.html?cat_id=9
• WisWeb: http://www.fi.uu.nl/wisweb/welcome_en.html
• Adding Integers: http://students.washington.edu/smithr3/integers/learning.html
• Algebra/Prealgebra: Using formulas and charting in spreadsheets: http://oregonstate.edu/~niessm/
• Developing Mathematical Thinking with Effective Questioning: http://teacherline.pbs.org/teacherline/resources/questionsheet_vma.pdf
• MathVIDS: http://coe.jmu.edu/mathvidsr/Default.htm
• Multisensory Teaching: Positive and Negative Numbers: http://www.resourceroom.net/math/integers.asp
• Visual Fractions: http://www.visualfractions.com/
• What Is the Probability of Grabbing a Green M&M?: http://oregonstate.edu/~niessm/
• Web Turtle: http://www.sonic.net/~nbs/webturtle/

iPod Protection: This week I’ve received a few emails from school districts who are buying iPods/Zunes and are beginning to implement the Self-Operated Prompting Systems that I’ve been teaching in workshops this year and last year! Very exciting for them! Many schools are wanting to know what I would recommend for cases/protection of the devices, so I thought maybe I’d post my response (which is only my opinion) here in the blog as it may benefit others:

• I actually really like the rubberized (silicone) cases that were on some of mine at the PATINS State Conf, TRLD and ATIA. Here’s some that I like and have used extensively from RadTech: http://www.radtech.us/Products/Default.aspx#CategoryiPod There are many other brands too. They are pretty cheap, they don’t make the iPod much more bulky or heavy and I’ve been happy with the protection they provide. I’d probably skip the belt clips, depending on your students of course, but I’ve found that most people, including students, just like to put the iPod in their pocket rather than mess with the belt clip. Then, you may or may not wish to put some sort of protective film on the screens themselves. I have a couple of my personal iPods that do have the film on the screen and one that does not. In fact, my little nano doesn’t have any protection on it at all, as I wanted to see how it held up. I take it everywhere with me and I’m NOT careful with it. It does have some scratches on the back (which don’t effect it’s performance), but the screen is perfect still. My Zune doesn’t have any protection on it at all and it is still in perfect condition as well, though to be honest, I don’t usually take the Zune with me as often as I do the nano.

Don’t Forget to Register for FREE!
~PATINS TECH EXPO 2008 ~
To Register:
http://patinsproject.com/htm/tech_expo_08.htm

Upcoming Workshops at the NE PATINS Site:

• Feb. 22: Classroom Podcasting
• March 18: SMARTBoards in Your Classroom
• April 24: Intro to Wiki’s, Blogs & Skype for Learning
• May 14: Universal Design for Learning & Assistive Technology Overview
• May 23: Self-Operated Prompting Systems with the Video iPod

~EduChallenge #1~

Ok, I want to keep this fun and easy, but also useful to you. So, for the very first EduChallenge: If you have a digital camera of any sort, or you can borrow one from your school or from a friend, your challenge is to take 10 digital images during this next week of, in, around your classroom. You don’t even have to do anything with the images! Just shoot 10 pics and get them onto your computer’s desktop. For some of you, this challenge is not really any sort of ‘challenge’ at all, but still do it as we’ll build on it with a future challenge. For those of you who’ve never taken a digital image or who might have taken lots of digital images, but never moved them off of your camera and onto your computer, I encourage you to do these 10 shots. They can be 10 shots of whatever! Please keep in mind that if you are taking photos of your students, you should have a permission form on file with the office from your students’ parents/guardians and don’t make any student photos public in anyway. Email me if you have questions or need any help!